Rec Hall was fortunate enough to host the exhibition match hyped as the battle for North American volleyball yesterday.

Pitting the 1994 Canadian national champions, Laval University, against the NCAA champion Nittany Lions, Penn State Coach Mark Pavlik knew his team would have to be playing top notch to down Laval for the second time this season.

Enter senior outside hitter Ed Josefoski, the answer to Pavlik's prayers. In the three-game sweep of Laval, Josefoski did all he was asked to do -- and then some.

Collecting 23 kills on the night, Josefoski led the team while scorching Laval's stingy defense with a team-high 54.1 hitting percentage.

"If Dickie V. (Dick Vitale) was here he would say Eddie's a prime-time player," Pavlik excitedly revealed. "He comes up big when big points are needed."

Not only did Josefoski answer the call of duty when Laval closed the point gap many times on early Penn State leads; he also sparked a sometimes flat Nittany Lion team with a surge of emotion late in each game.

"We're playing with many young guys this year and the most common mistake for them to make when things go bad is to clam up and become very quiet," Josefoski said. "Ninety percent of the time, when a team is playing quiet, they're losing."

Playing quietly is definitely not on Josefoski's list of priorities. Time and time again, he yelled encouragement, high-fived and even bumped chests with players to fire the team up after sideouts and points. But emotions might have gotten the best of him when he received a red card late in the final game.

The incident happened after a frustrated Laval team became a little rowdy and No. 13, Francois Bilodeau, received a red card.

"I went under the net. Then as I walked away, (Bilodeau) said 'stay on your side of the net,' in broken French," Josefoski recalled while being tended to on the training table after the match. Josefoski's response earned him a red card as well.

Pavlik said that Josefoski has been working hard on leadership and trying to keep his emotions positively affecting the team.

"When you play with your emotions on your sleeve like Eddie, you sometimes don't know when it helps or hurts you," Pavlik explained. "Eddie is Eddie, you can't ask him to be something different. He did not back down from No. 13."